


Puppies Make Everything Better

by dappercat



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dogs, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Podfic Available, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Puppies, Rated Teen because there's one swearword, Why Did I Write This?, brief mention of dissociation, genfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 09:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2575760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dappercat/pseuds/dappercat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky gets Steve a puppy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppies Make Everything Better

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spacegoth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacegoth/gifts).



> Now translated into Russian (ру́сский) at: <http://ficbook.net/readfic/2915790> (Thanks to jessie_jameson for the translation!)
> 
> There is a podfic of this available at: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11007099 (Read by yours truly.)

Bucky's been acting strange all morning. 

Steve peers into the living room on his way out, and is greeted by the sight of his boyfriend's back, hunched over something that's not visible from this angle, and - is he _muttering_ to himself? "Bucky?" he says, tentatively. 

Bucky jumps like a firework, spinning around with his arms curved back to shield his object of attention from Steve's prying eyes. Steve frowns, but decides not to give into the impulse to start pitching from side to side and craning his neck to see what it is Bucky is hiding. Bucky shakes his head to dislodge the errant strands of hair that have fallen into his eyes. "Yeah?" he replies, sounding strangely pinched. 

"Um," Steve pauses, wondering whether to ask, then lets it slide. If there's something Bucky wants to hide from him, that's his right. It's not like he doesn't deserve to have a few private possessions, after everything he's been through. (Steve stops that train of thought abruptly, not trusting himself not to get upset if it goes any further.) "I'm just going to buy some groceries, do you want to...?" 

"No!" Bucky says a little too quickly, "Uh, nope. I'm good. Good for groceries." His eyes shift uneasily around the room, landing on Steve only briefly before scattering away again. "Yeah, just gonna. Stay inside, maybe read a book... You know." 

"...Right," Steve says, because what else is there to say? "I'll just go, then. Alone. To buy groceries. By myself." If Bucky picks up on the slightly mournful note to Steve's voice, he shows no sign of it. Steve sighs. "See you later, Buck." 

"See you." Bucky doesn't even move from his crouched position to give Steve a goodbye kiss, and Steve tries not to feel too dejected as he turns away and heads for the exit. 

Grocery shopping was never going to end up at the top of Steve's favourite things to do, but it had become considerably more enjoyable since Bucky moved in and started accompanying him to most shopping trips. Something as simple as planning a meal became a springboard for playful mock-arguments, brandishing cucumbers across the vegetable aisle, and sometimes, if Bucky was in a good mood, Steve was treated to the sight of the famed Barnes charm in action as Bucky shamelessly flirted with the cashier girl. 

Today, though, he gets it over and done with as quickly as possible, not missing the way the cashier girl looks for Bucky at his side and deflates with disappointment when he's nowhere to be found. He thrusts his money at her a little more rudely than she really deserves, and sulks back off home with shopping bags in hand. 

When he arrives back at the apartment, it's eerily quiet. "Bucky?" he calls with a frown, setting the bags down by the door. No reply. Steve's heart gives a cold squeeze of fear; the last time he'd come home to silence it was only to find Bucky sitting on the couch with vacant eyes, staring emptily at nothing, lost in the dark parts of his head where Steve could not follow. It'd taken a terrifying fifteen minutes for Bucky to respond to anything he said. 

Steve takes a breath, shaking away the memory. He reminds himself that nothing's happened, not yet, and that there are a hundred possible reasons for the quiet. Maybe he's taken up midday naps, he thinks optimistically, and begins to move carefully towards the living room door. 

The room's empty, but something catches Steve's eye, sitting in the same spot Bucky refused to move from just that morning. Anticipation mingles with the dread in his stomach as he creeps forward to get a closer look. 

He blinks. It's a pet bed. There's no mistaking it; it's cushiony and round with a pawprint pattern printed all over it. Nestled in the bed is a brand new collar, either a collar for a cat or for a small dog, and on top of it sits a handwritten note. 

It says, 'Sorry about earlier.' 

"SURPRISE!" Bucky shouts joyfully as he bursts forward from behind the kitchen door. "Oh, shit!" he adds immediately afterwards, as he scrabbles and drops a furry golden lump from his arms onto the floor. The lump, after a small yip of pain, seizes the opportunity for freedom and runs immediately away from Bucky's attempts to recapture it, instead barreling headfirst into Steve's legs. 

"It's a puppy," Steve says slowly, stupidly. A fat, happy, Golden Retriever puppy, to be exact. He watches it recover itself before escaping _through_ his legs instead. Bucky lunges for it and misses. "It's a puppy," Steve says again, "Bucky, you dropped a puppy on the floor!" 

"I didn't mean to!" Bucky shouts defensively, reaching his right arm through Steve's legs and attempting to grab the puppy by its tail. "She wriggles a lot, you try holding her still! C'mere-!" He lets out a crow of victory as his fingers close around one of her back legs. "I got her, Steve, help me pick her up!" 

Steve, brain now caught up and working, hastily steps away so that he's no longer presenting Bucky's face with his crotch (something he would find much more appealing in a different situation), before whirling around and successfully grabbing the puppy by the scruff of her neck, lifting her into his arms. Bucky, letting go of her leg and collapsing to the floor with a show of exaggerated exhaustion, grins up at the two of them with a smug sort of affection. 

"How do we know if she's okay?" Steve is asking, checking the puppy over for any sign of injury. "What if she hit her head when you dropped her? What if she broke a paw?" As if sensing his concern, the puppy immediately begins licking his face. 

"She's fine," Bucky drawls with an impressive lack of concern, "Puppies are hardy, y'know. They can take being dropped a few feet." 

"Yeah, well, don't do it again," Steve replies, squinting his eyes against the merciless onslaught of licks. After a full minute of this, he decides to put her down ( _carefully_ ) onto Bucky's chest, wiping his face with his sleeve. 

Bucky curls his arms gently around her. "Hey, Steve," he says, and there's a small anxious furrow in his forehead, though his voice is perfectly neutral. "So, you like it? I mean. You like her?" 

Steve looks down at him. "What, you mean, do I like the fact you spent the whole morning making me think you'd gone off me somehow, that you forced me to go to the shops on my own - and, by the way, that cashier girl really misses you - that you let me come home to _silence_ , only to find out that it was all because you were planning to give me a _puppy_?" 

Bucky chews nervously on his bottom lip. "Yeah." 

Steve's face blossoms into a happy smile. "Yeah, 'course I do, stupid." Bucky grins giddily up at him, so Steve swoops down and draws him into a tender kiss. Neither of them mind too much when the moment is interrupted by the puppy trying to join in with a few licks of her own, the two of them breaking off into mutual laughter and ruffling her fur fondly. 

End

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Puppies Make Everything Better [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11007099) by [dappercat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dappercat/pseuds/dappercat)




End file.
